2014 Commonwealth Games: Day 3 Finals Preview – Seebohm Looks For Ninth Commonwealth Medal

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DAY 3 FINALS – 2014 COMMONWEALTH GAMES

• Finals start at 7PM Glasgow time; 2PM US East Coast time, 2AM Sydney time, 8PM South Africa time
• Men’s Semi-Finals: 50 backstroke and 100 freestyle
• Women’s Semi-Finals: 50 butterfly
•  Men’s Finals: 200 butterfly and 100 breaststroke
• Women’s Finals: 50 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 4 x 200 freestyle relay
• No major scratches

Eight is Not Enough for Seebohm

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi Emily Seebohm came away with eight medals; gold in the 100 backstroke, 4 x 100 medley and 4 x 100 freestyle relays, silver in the 100 freestyle and 200 IM and bronze in the 50 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 50 butterfly. Tonight she will have her sights set on retaining her 100 backstroke crown and adding to the eight Commonwealth medals she has already won.

Seebohm is going into tonight’s final as the top ranked swimmer after having put up a Commonwealth Games record in the prelims posting a 59.51. She was the overwhelming favourite coming into the games, having posted the top ranked time in the world, 58.92, in 2014 and having a lifetime best which is more than a second faster than anyone else in the field.

This should not change in the final this evening. Look for Seebohm to repeat as the Commonwealth champion and break the games record one more time.

Halsall Looks to Make History in Two Events

Fran Halsall has been having a great games so far. In the 50 freestyle prelims she became the third woman of the day to break the Commonwealth Games record, qualifying for the semi-finals in a 24.31. After Australian Cate Campbell broke her record in the first semi-final, putting up a time of 24.17, Halsall came back in the second semi-final posting a 24.14 to recapture the record.

Tonight should be an outstanding race between the two veterans. Both women have textile lifetime best times of 24.13 and with both swimming at the top of their game in Glasgow they may just push each other under the 24 second mark in an attempt to take down Libby Trickett’s Commonwealth mark of 23.97.

This will not be Halsall’s only shot at a Commonwealth record tonight, she will also have a shot at Marieke Guehrer’s record of 25.48 in the women’s 50 butterfly. In this morning’s prelims Halsall took down Guehrer’s games record of 26.07 by posting a 25.64. Her time was also a lifetime best, beating the time of 25.69 which she posted at the World Championships in Barcelona.

Unlike the 50 freestyle there isn’t the urgency or the necessity for Halsall to put up that kind of performance, but there wasn’t in the prelims either. Although Halsall will have some fatigue after battling with Campbell earlier in the evening look for the English woman to possibly walk away with two Commonwealth records after tonight’s events.

le Clos Goes for Gold

South African star Chad le Clos will be going for his first gold medal of the games tonight in the men’s 200 butterfly. The Olympic champion in the event came into the games with the top time in the world having posted a 1:54.56. His season’s best is also almost a second and a half faster than the next ranked Commonwealth swimmer.

le Clos picked up his first medal of the games last night in the 50 butterfly, finishing third in a lifetime best time of 23.29, dropping almost half a second off his previous best. He cruised his swim this morning qualifying for the final in a time of 1:57.45.

le Clos was originally looking at competing in six individual events in Glasgow, but ultimately decided to drop the 400 IM and 200 backstroke. One can assume that one of the reasons for dropping the IM would be to have more of a focus on and conserve more energy for the 200 butterfly. That mixed with the speed he showed in the 50 last night we could in for a treat in tonight’s final.